Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Unwitting Allies
Erode Religious Liberty

An Open Letter To
An Important Reader

DONALD H. COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

A Southern
Baptist minister
friend of mine
put it succinctly.
The problem with
a theocracy is
everyone wants
to be "Theo."
Recently, U.S.
Rep. Ernest Is-
01°
took, R-Okla., introduced the Re-
ligious Freedom Amendment into
the House of Representatives.
The legislation must be defeated
by Congress and the American
people. Let me share a true story
about "Theo" with you.
Though born in Detroit, most
recently I lived in Dayton, Ohio.
The mayor of Dayton is a nice and
decent guy. He attends Yom
Hashoah observances and has
visited Israel. He is man of deep
Christian faith. He is no anti-
Semite.
Last year he changed the pre-
vious mayor's Unity Breakfast to
a prayer breakfast and organized
it out of city hall. He let a group
of Christian clergy choose an
evangelical associated with
M Promise Keepers as speaker.
When he was asked to ensure
the program was appropriate for
an interfaith audience, he said he
refused to "censor" the speaker.
He was surprised the Jewish
community wouldn't participate
and would question his judgment.
He didn't understand the prob-
lem.
A thousand peo-
•
ple came. All the
prayers were of-
fered in the name of
Jesus Christ. The
speaker ridiculed
those who did not
understand they
could only find their
fulfillment in Jesus.
The speaker ended
his talk with an al-
tar call (that's when
anyone who is
ready to proclaim
Jesus as his savior
comes forward).
Contacted after the program, the
mayor still didn't understand the
problem.
This past month the event
was held again. Responding to
church-state concerns, the may-
or found private sponsors for the
event, and churches, instead of
city hall, took the lead in selling
tickets.
Again the mayor consulted
with only a few churches closest
to him. Again he declined to "cen-
sor" the new speaker from
Promise Keepers, arguing that
because he was being invited as
a Christian leader, he should cer-

O

Donald Cohen is director of the
Anti-Defamation League,
Michigan Region.

tainly be allowed to act like one.
The breakfast was scheduled on
the seventh day of Passover, not
just a day when Jews couldn't eat
the food, but a day when special
morning services are held.
And then the mayor reached
out to the Jewish community ...
he invited them to the program.
And he was confused when the
Jewish community, among many
others, questioned his judgment
and refused to attend.
Three thousand people at-
tended the service — uh, excuse
me, the breakfast — and it was
broadcast live on a Christian
television station. You get the
idea.
The mayor put his need to pub-
licly endorse Christianity above
his responsibility to the entire
community as a public official. He
allowed for a like-minded minor-
ity to control the largest commu-
nity-wide religious event of the
year. He didn't, and doesn't, un-
derstand how inappropriate it
was to expect non-Christians to
join in a wholly Christian prayer
service that would preach how
only Jesus could make one's life
complete. He proudly called it a
city event.
What the mayor did was legal.
If the Religious Freedom Amend-
ment passes, much more will be
allowed.
• What Mr. Istook proposes is an
assault on the religion clause of

the First Amendment. According
to the Coalition to Preserve
Religious Liberty, an alliance of
more than 50 national religious,
educational and civil liberties or-
ganizations of which the Anti-
Defamation League is a proud
member, the amendment would
"allow the government to coerce,
control and compromise religion."
The proposed amendment is
nothing more than a cleverly
packaged effort to overturn nu-
merous Supreme Court prece-
dents on prayer in schools and
church-state separation and rais-
es the specter of government re-
strictions on religious activity.
Despite its disclaimers, the
amendment would authorize
state-sponsored religious prac-

tices, ranging from state-endorsed
prayer in public-school classrooms
to a legislative proclamation that
the United States is a Christian
nation to government-subsidized
religion.
Not only would Jews and oth-
er minority religions regularly be
put at a disadvantage, but it will
inevitably result in divisive com-
petition among religious groups
for scarce government resources.
Sooner or later it will mean in-
volving government in approving
and rejecting prayers and other-
wise regulating religion:
It will not heal the ills of our
nation as many well-intentioned
supporters hope, but rather it
will inflict new and serious
harm. It will divide our nation
along religious and denomina-
tional lines.
The serious challenge of as-
similation of the Jewish commu-
nity would only become more
serious. We know that many
choose to give up certain Jewish
beliefs and practices to assimilate
into the larger society.
Consider what might happen
if being American truly becomes
associated with being Christian.
Based on their past histories, it
is reasonable to believe that Mr.
Istook and others are seeking gov-
ernment support and funding for
their own religious views.
Indeed, it may be naive not to
believe so. But it is not just fer-
vent proselytizers
or anti-Semites
we have to worry
about. Don't forget
the mayor of Day-
ton because he
represents that
well-intentioned
majority who just
don't understand
the problem.
A constitution-
al amendment
must pass by two-
thirds in the
House and Sen-
ate, and then be
ratified by three-
fourths of the nation's 50 states.
The battle begins in Congress; al-
ready the amendment has 116 co-
sponsors, including many House
Republican leaders. Coordinated
and active interfaith opposition
is critical. Work with others who
do understand — many do. Con-
tact your representatives to reg-
ister your opposition.
As it is said, "Freedom is not
free."
Those promoting the amend-
ment are not considering the re-
ligious battles that will be
unleashed, nor the eventual re-
strictions on religious liberty that
will be necessary if the amend-
ment passes. They're all too
busy betting that they can be
"Theo." ❑

Dear Beverly,
Thank you for
your thought-
ful letter of May
12.
You wrote:
"It has recently
come to my at-
tention that I
will not be fea-
tured in the 1997 high school
yearbook section of your paper
[published May 16]. At first I
was surprised at not being no-
tified but then, after inquiring
further into the situation, I was
also quite disappointed.

Beverly Betel:
Class of 1997.

"I heard from a fellow student
who had been selected from my
school that the determination
was based on academic grade
point average. This was not,
however, my only concern. The
aspect of selection which an-
gered me the most was the fact
that a large portion of the stu-
dents chosen had minimal to no
involvement in the Jewish com-
munity.
"Personally, I feel as if that is
a contradiction to the purpose,
precepts and motivation of your
publication ..."
Beverly, I am sorry that you
were not among those selected,
but I disagree with you that
those who appeared in the Col-
lege Bound section were in any
way a contradiction to the pur-
pose or motivation of The Jew-
ish News.
I am amazed every year by
the quality and diversity of our
Jewish students. It is astound-
ing to me to see students of such
high caliber who also are active
in athletics, theater, student
government, volunteer work,
Jewish organizations and com-
munity life.
But please don't misunder-
stand. The Jewish News tries
every week to include news
about community life for all age
groups. We've written stories
and created photo spreads on
B'nai B'rith Youth Organization,

National Federation of Temple
Youth-Michigan Region, Unit-
ed Synagogue Youth and a host
of other groups geared to teen-
agers. In addition, we publish
hundreds of press releases about
these groups during the year.
But the College Bound sec-
tion, and its high school year-
book, is the only time during the
year that we give significant
play to the academic record of
our high school seniors.
And because of that, the em-
phasis in the yearbook articles
for most of the youngsters is on
their high school achievements.
I had a discussion with one of
the 84 seniors the week before
College Bound was printed. She
had just received a national
scholarship and wanted to in-
clude the information in her
yearbook profile in The Jewish
News.
Because of our space limita-
tions, I suggested that she
take out the information about
her involvement with Adat
Shalom's Nosh 'n Drosh pro-
gram and leave in her other aca-
demic honors and the national
scholarship. Maybe for you this
would not have been the right
decision. But for the emphasis
of this section, I think it was the
right choice for her.
I am proud of you. I am proud
of the letter you sent me, and of
your "resume" that we did not
print in The Jewish News. Your
involvement at West Bloomfield
High as president of the student
body and in a host of other ac-
tivities, as well as your co-pres-
idency of Adat Shalom's United
Synagogue Youth chapter and
other USY roles and honors, are
more than just commendable.
Unfortunately, again because
of space limitations, we could
not print every nomination sent
to us. We asked each school to
distribute our yearbook forms
to their eight highest-ranking
Jewish students. Instead of
eight, we received 21 nomina-
tions from West Bloomfield
High School.
And since our form says,
"Congratulations. You have
been selected ..." all 21 assumed
that they would be included.
Next year, we will change the
form to make it read like a nom-
ination and, hopefully, circum-
vent this problem.
But in your case, I hope you
understand why we choose to
base our yearbook on academic
standing while continuing week-
ly to publicize the community
achievements of all our readers.
Thank you again for your
thoughtful letter, and best of
luck at the University of Michi-
gan in the fall.
I know you'll continue to
make us proud. ❑